Ham and Egg Cups: Hamuffins! (Not really)

For those who know how to laugh with me

I like life. I love life when it has a lot of humor in it. I don't understand very well those things that are too serious, unless I find the funny in it. I don't relate to people that well if they have no humor. I like to smile but I love to laugh, love hearing the joyous laughter of my friends, of daughters and son, and of husband, especially when I bring them to the raucous crashing sounds of joy.

These ham cups for some reason, brought out the major giggle in daughters. They watched me construct them and laughed as I put them in the oven in muffin tins. Somehow the vision of these eggs being baked in ham "liners" as they put it just killed them. And they laughed. While they ate them they laughed too, but they cleaned their plates. Ate it ALL. Every last bit of it, which tells you that despite their curious appearance they actually taste really delicious.

I actually found the recipe on this blog, and she had taken it from the book "Gale Gand's Brunch! 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend's Best Meal" by Gale Gand with Christie Matheson. I had to tweak the recipe a bit because I don't know what kind of muffin cups Gale Gand uses, but there was NO WAY I could crack two eggs into each muffin cup. I also didn't have any homemade pesto, so I just blitzed some basil and olive oil. I'm REALLY glad I did this because the ham imparted enough salt to make the whole thing well flavored. With pesto, I think it would have been too salty. This comes easily together if you have all the ingredients ready (packaged shredded cheese, pesto, tomatoes and eggs) and bakes up in a flash. I hope it brings out the laughter in your home as it did in mine! Happy laughing!

Ham and Egg Cups (adapted from Gale Gand's Brunch: 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend's Best Meal)
Serves 4

1 teaspoon unsalted butter, for the tins
4 (1/16-inch thick) round ham slices (the largest you can find at the deli)
1/4 cup of basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large eggs
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or cheese of your choice, havarti, fresh mozzarella, cheddar, ricotta all would be nice)
4 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a mini food processor, blend together basil and olive oil.

Butter 4 compartments of a metal muffin tin. Fold each ham slice into quarters; insert the point end in a buttered muffin cup, and let it open, it will have a ruffled look.

Place 1 teaspoon basil olive oil mixture in the bottom of each ham cup. Place 1 tablespoon mozzarella cheese on top of basil oil. Add one half of cherry tomato to the bottom.

Carefully crack a single egg into each cup. Top with the other half of the cherry tomato and a small dab of basil olive oil mixture. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the egg white looks set but the yolk is still a bit runny. Remove the ham cups from the muffin tin and serve them in small bowls or lined up on a platter.

Printable recipe

Photo directions

Ham cups in buttered muffin pan, with 1 teaspoon of basil olive oil mix

Eggs cracked on top of 1 tablespoon shredded mozzarella and a half of cherry tomato

The final touches - another half of cherry tomato, a dab of basil olive oil, and fresh black pepper

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